Why Bush would fire his own prosecutors

Under Bill Clinton, like under our current president, there were a wave of federal prosecutor firings.  But as McClatchy notes, presidents who replace attorneys do so at the beginning of their first term in the White House.  Today, Bush is firing prosecutors in the middle of his second term, which is highly unusual:

Mass firings of U.S. attorneys are fairly common when a new president takes office, but not in a second-term administration. Prosecutors are usually appointed for four-year terms, but they are usually allowed to stay on the job if the president who appointed them is re-elected.

 

Even as they planned mass firings by the Bush White House, Justice Department officials acknowledged it would be unusual for the president to oust his own appointees.

Why would Bush fire his own appointees?  It is the same logic behind why the Republican base despised Sandra Day O'Connor this decade, and why many of the judges Bush accused of judicial activism were actually appointed by his father.  Putting it simply, these prosecutors were conservative, but not partisan enough.  The difference between Bush's father and our current president is that Bush Sr. sought prosecutors with a certain judicial philosophy.  Bush Jr. sought prosecutors with a certain partisan loyalty.